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New Voices / Nuevas Voces: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Early Intervention

New Voices ~ Nuevas Voces was a dynamic professional development program that provided early childhood professionals with information and strategies to improve knowledge, attitudes, and skills for working with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and their families. We provided professional development for early care and education providers and offered a train-the-trainer option for faculty, program coordinators, and staff development professionals. This program had been field tested with a large number of participants and validated by national experts in the field.

Evaluation results show that the New Voices ~ Nuevas Voces program has been useful for professionals including teachers, speech pathologists, early interventionists, physical and occupational therapists, psychologists, and program administrators. After five years of development, field testing, and evaluation the New Voices ~ Nuevas Voces program became available to be offered to early childhood professionals anywhere in the country.

New Voices ~ Nuevas Voces, founded on current research and recommended practices, is a professional development program for early childhood providers working with young children from culturally, linguistically and ability diverse backgrounds, with a special focus on Latino children and their families. The program was divided into five modules. Each module included a variety of cooperative learning activities to enable participants to discuss common issues of concern, share their own expertise, and develop skills to incorporate the content into their work. New Voices ~ Nuevas Voces offered an opportunity for participants to assess their own knowledge of, attitudes about, and practices with diverse children and families, and to develop an individual plan for improvement. 

Award(s)

Funding Agency:  

U.S. Department of Education

Funding Period:  

09/01/2001 to 08/31/2006

Award Amount:  

$695,820

Staff